Car2go, the car sharing scheme from Daimler and Europcar, is to expand across London from next month.

In December 2012 Car2go launched in Islington and Sutton, and the service is now also available in large areas of Wimbledon, Raynes Park, Kingston, Richmond, South Lambeth, South Southwark and Croydon.

In the new business area the 500 Smart cars can be rented and parked in all legal and unrestricted free-parking areas without considering any fixed rental station. In Islington and Sutton the Car2go vehicles can also use any metered or pay station spaces as well as any shared residential permit parking space. At the same time the Car2go service in Newham will be suspended as a result of higher demands in other areas of the city.

CEO of Car2go Europe, Stefan Mueller, said: "Many Londoners have already started to use this new on-demand way of travelling around the city. Expanding our free-floating business area allows us to offer the Car2go service to even more people."

Once registered, Car2go members can locate any available car through the car2go London website, by using the free app or just by walking up to an available car, touching the card reader on the windscreen, getting in and driving off.

The service costs 35p per minute and is billed directly to the customer’s account. This rate includes fuel, insurance, road tax, parking and maintenance. Customers don’t have to return their Car2go to the same parking bay from which it was collected – any unregulated parking space within the home area will do. And the cars can be driven anywhere any car can. The Car2go can be kept as long as the customer wants, or just for a quick hop across town.

Every Car2go vehicle in London is a Smart mhd – an efficient, compact two-seater which emits 98g/km of CO2, and provides the convenience of automatic transmission, start-stop technology, GPS navigation and the comfort of air conditioning.
 

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